U.S. Department for the Preservation of American Dignity

The department's logo featured in Contingency

The U.S. Department for the Preservation of American Dignity (USDPAD) was an American federal department that was created in the event of a foreign invasion and operated during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s. A graphic posted onto Kris Straub's Instagram story around Halloween of 2024 suggests that the department had been active at least since the 1800s.

Goals

The goal of the Department for the Preservation of American Dignity was to ensure that in case of complete surrender to foreign enemy forces, American patriotism, courage and defiance would be preserved through drastic measures, including mass suicides and the use of local law enforcement agencies to completely wipe out the population. Such plans were intercepted and investigated, with no definitive conclusion as to the identity of the perpetrators. The reasons behind the department's dissolution are unknown.

Contingency

Contingency marks the first appearance of the department in the Local 58 series. You can quickly see a glimpse of the logo before the contingency message in the episode plays. USDPAD was responsible for producing the message shown on Local 58 that followed with the instruction of citizens to kill themselves. The station would shortly after claim the message to be false, though during the apology, the outline of a "fake hoax apology card" bearing the department's logo can be seen.

The Parasite Transcendent

On August 30, 2025, Kris Straub sold copies of the fictional T. Galbraith book, "The Parasite Transcendent," in the form of pamphlets with multiple variations from his booth at PAX West in Seattle, Washington. One of these variations included part of a heavily-censored confidential document regarding the U.S. Department for the Preservation of American Dignity. This document throws into question the legitimacy of the department as a real federal agency, calling it a "rogue agency" and noting that it has never been mentioned in any official federal or state documentation.

The document shows that the department has used two different seals to identify itself before, with the first being done in an 1800s woodcut style but having its origin censored, and the second being the version used during the broadcast from Contingency. The events surrounding the latter's usage is deemed in the document as an "unauthorized television broadcast" that was investigated by task forces, but all personnel investigated had plausible deniability and no reel containing the footage that aired was ever found. However, a 36-page fragment of a manual regarding the department was recovered 180 yards north of a redacted location, although the damaged binding suggested that it contained many more pages than what was found.

Other Appearances

Clips of USDPAD's contingency message from Contingency were reused in A Look Back. The department also appeared in LOCATOR 628-M-42R, a short video showing a television-headed cryptid called Chiron. At the start of the video, a third, previously unseen logo for the department is shown.

Trivia

• Kris Straub has cited the dystopian, fundamentalist government from the 2007 ARG Year Zero as a major influence for USDPAD, with the game being based on the Nine Inch Nails album of the same name.

Gallery

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  U.S. Department for the Preservation of American Dignity's black logo.
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  Part of an older logo for the department, as seen on Kris Straub's Instagram story and captured by Reddit user, IronAidan07.
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  Enhanced image of The Parasite Transcendent, as captured by Reddit user, tom90deg.
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  The department's most recent logo, as seen in LOCATOR 628-M-42R.